The 22-year-old hit the first one-day century of his career to help set up a commanding total against his former county before popping up with two wickets.

He struck 13 fours in his 115-ball innings and shared an opening stand of 154 with Jason Gallian (68), while Mark Wagh, Samit Patel and Chris Read all contributed quick runs at the end.

The Notts bowling attack then proved far too strong for the hosts, who were a batsman short after overseas star Chris Rogers injured a thumb while fielding.

It all left Director of Cricket Mick Newell a happy man and he said: “That was one of the best one-day performances we’ve produced for a long time and was the perfect response to our opening defeat by Yorkshire.

“Jason and Bilal got us into a very good position early on and we saw the value of not losing early wickets as we were able to really push the run-rate up from there.

“Mark Wagh struck the ball very cleanly to make 66 from 49 balls, Samit Patel and Chris Read were aggressive and it all set us up nicely.”

Newell rested several of the squad involved in the hard-fought Championship win over Gloucestershire the previous day but the likes of Gareth Clough and Rob Ferley made sure the seamers weren’t missed.

Added Newell: “Northampton has always had a reputation as a fairly slow wicket that suits the spinners and medium-pacers.

“In that respect, the team was a reasonable one to pick even without considering the numbers of overs the likes of Ryan Sidebottom and Paul Franks had sent down over the previous four days.

“Mark Ealham and Charlie Shreck took early wickets and from there we were always in a good position. I was very pleased with the bowling effort.”